Zinfandel: A History of a Grape and Its Wine (California Studies in Food and Culture) [Hardcover]

Charles L. Sullivan (Author)

Book Description

Series: California Studies in Food and Culture | Publication Date: September 2, 2003

The Zinfandel grape--currently producing big, rich, luscious styles of red wine--has a large, loyal, even fanatical following in California and around the world. The grape, grown predominantly in California, has acquired an almost mythic status--in part because of the caliber of its wines and its remarkable versatility, and in part because of the mystery surrounding its origins. Charles Sullivan, a leading expert on the history of California wine, has at last written the definitive history of Zinfandel. Here he brings together his deep knowledge of wine with the results of his extensive research on the grape in the United States and Europe in a book that will entertain and enlighten wine aficionados and casual enthusiasts. In this lively book, Sullivan dispels the false legend that has obscured Zinfandel's history for almost a century, reveals the latest scientific findings about the grape's European roots, shares his thoughts on the quality of the wines now being produced, and looks to the future of this remarkable grape.
Sullivan reconstructs Zinfandel's journey through history--taking us from Austria to the East Coast of the U.S. in the 1820s, to Gold Rush California, and through the early days of the state's wine industry. He considers the ups and downs of the grape's popularity, including its most recent and, according to Sullivan, most brilliant "up." He also unravels the two great mysteries surrounding Zinfandel: the myth of Agoston Haraszthy's role in importing Zinfandel, and the heated controversy over the relationship between California Zinfandel and Italian Primitivo. Sullivan ends with his assessments of the 2001 and 2002 vintages, firmly setting the history of Zinfandel into the chronicles of grape history.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Wine historians have long debated the true origins of America's unique wine grape, zinfandel. Though much of today's zinfandel harvest goes to produce sweet and insipid jug roses, more and more oenophiles have come to appreciate zinfandel's big, peppery, full-bodied red wines that stand with the world's best. Through meticulous research, Sullivan demonstrates that the zinfandel grape came to California, not through the Hungarian Agoston Haraszthy in the 1860s, but from decades-earlier shipments of vinifera varieties from New England nurseries. The grape gradually spread throughout California's vineyards until winemakers discovered that zinfandel wine could rival its French competitors when treated knowledgeably and respectfully. The robust economy of the 1980s meant fat times for growers of premium zinfandel, and the variety's popularity grew as vintners experimented with new styles. The discovery in the 1990s that Italy's primitive grape may be identical with the zinfandel set off competition between Old World and New World to see if wine tasters could distinguish one country's wine from the other's. Wine buffs, scholars, and historians will appreciate the author's painstaking archival search. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"California has long claimed zinfandel as its own - a (possibly) native grape whose bottled issue included, in the 1970s, high-alcohol red wines best suited for drinking with takeout pizza and, in the 1980s, blush wines ("white" zinfandels) that strongly appealed to people who didn't really like wine. It's been mainly in the last decade that zin has begun to be taken seriously by wine makers and wine drinkers alike. And it's been in the same interval, ironically, that the story of its being native to California has been debunked as myth. That story is ably told by Charles L. Sullivan in Zinfandel: A History of a Grape and Its Wine (California, $24.95)."--"San Francisco Bay Guardian

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 246 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (September 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520239695
• ISBN-13: 978-0520239692
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #865,421 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Info worth knowing, October 25, 2007

By 

John Matthesen "Global Citizen" (Bay Area, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zinfandel: A History of a Grape and Its Wine (California Studies in Food and Culture) (Hardcover)

Anyone who is interested in wine might want to read this, but if you like Zinfandel, then I'd put it on the absolute required list. It is not a great book to read, possibly a bit on the dry side ;-) but it IS accurate, and it tells an incredibly important story. This is the story of one of the world's most unique wines, one that is almost exclusively American. Which is why it is so important to read this book and learn about where this grape comes from originally, and how it worked it's way into the modern Zinfandel we know today.

One of the most important things to learn from this book is the truth behind the often cited Count Haraszthy story. This was a story I believed and repeated for years. I'm personally glad to find out I was wrong about that whole tale. It would be great to have lots more people find out about this as well. The truth isn't nearly as colorful as the fiction about the Count, but it's still fascinating to learn how this grape developed.

So all you ZAP members and Zinfandel lovers - please read this book!

4.0 out of 5 stars Sloppy overpriced KIndle Edition, January 10, 2011

By 

P. F. May (St Albans) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zinfandel: A History of a Grape and Its Wine (California Studies in Food and Culture) (Hardcover)

This must be the definitive book about a very much appreciated American grape. Sullivan is an enthusiast about the Zinfandel variety and an assiduous burrower in historic documents but much of the book is rather dry and textbook like with many facts about plantings in various regions that I read without excitement.

The origins of Zinfandel were long a mystery: how the grape got to California, where it originated and exactly what it is - for it was obviously a European variety but there is none known as Zinfandel in the old world. Sullivan himself tracks down the probably journey of the grape to the West Coast and did a lot of research into disproving the myth that Zinfandel was brought to America by Agoston Haraszthy. Further more he thoroughly demolishes the myth, giving chapter and verse, of Haraszthy being the `father' of American wine by being the first to bring European vines to America.

The book was published in 2003 and anyone with an interest in Zinfandel now knows about how, with the help of DNA testing, its origins were tracked down so this reader found no surprises in the penultimate chapter that tells this story

I was confused and irritated by Sullivan's many references to Zinfandel as `claret': at the beginning he says "we have a cellar full of claret, that is California Cabernet Sauvignon, red Bordeaux and Zinfandel" and I don't know how Zinfandel gets on that list or what he means by a Zinfandel claret.

I read the Kindle eBook edition which I thought overpriced at £13 ($20). The formatting is poor, every `page' has words with gaps in them - even the author's surname on the title page is displayed as S U LLIVAN, and there is a redundant index at the end pointing to non-existent page numbers showing how little care went into digitising the book.

All the same, the book is a useful reference for geeks who want the facts on Zinfandel.

5.0 out of 5 stars must have for every Zinfandel lover, March 8, 2010

By 

Peter Van de Veire "Winelover" (Belgium) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zinfandel: A History of a Grape and Its Wine (California Studies in Food and Culture) (Hardcover)

Super interesting, a must have for every Zinfandel lover, and for everyone who is interested in US wine history. Some parts read like a novel, some are a little dry and loaded with data, but all super interesting. Highly recommended.